The Iron Fist Clenches
Act 1 Prolouge “The world is one unending chess match, my dear, and I am the one playing it how I please. I poke and prod to move my pieces to places I find desirable. And the defiant ones who resist me I simply remove from the board. But you are not of this chess match at all. You walked unexpectedly onto my board, scattering my pieces out of the way, the ones that I had worked on so tirelessly to arrange to perfection.” ''-J.S Bailey, 'The Land Beyond the Portal' ---- Desolation. Bright blue skies dominated the atmosphere, with large white clouds slowly moving in bliss along with it. The earth itself, however, was far less visually appealing. Blackened ashes dominated the ground, the ruins of buildings scattered and dotted the wasteland, and in some places, the burned and aged bones and skeletons of humans were found, all positioned as if they were once doing part of their old daily lives. Some were inside the ruins of cars, while others remained seated in the burned, destroyed ruins of an old diner. Others could be described with one's imagination. From beyond this, however, one could see in the distance what would appear to be a massive white wall that seemed to stretch in both directions endlessly. 'Narrator: "Earth...A desolate wasteland, once called a paradise by the naive, a living hell by the wise. Ever since his inception, Man has always done what he could to exceed his grasp, bite off more than he really could handle from that which he was offered. With his dominance over the world, countless suffered and countless prospered. It was a system of chance, a life dictated by cheats, liars, and corruption, a world that needed change. Change, that was delivered by the Quincy..." Beyond this massive wall, of which could be seen as nearly 17 stories tall, would be the opposite of what lie outside. It was a massive city that seemed to stretch beyond that which the eye could see. Massive buildings and highways dominated the first parts of what one could see, while smaller, and yet still large buildings dotted the lower parts endlessly. Cars seemed to go along the roads endlessly, making it feel as if the city was more than alive, and always moving. '''Narrator: ''"Almost one-hundred years ago, we emerged from this world's shadow, and took it by force. We eliminated the source of our evils; ranks, diversities, freedoms, whatever needed to be purged in order to cease the chaos that would ensue otherwise. The pitiful forces'' of their world, desperate to defend their rotted stick in the ground, stood no chance against the might of our armies, nor were they spared any quarter. Within just a few months, this world came under our control." The streets of this city were littered with people dressed in various forms of casual attire, all appearing as normal individuals just going with their day to day lives. However, at plenty of points on the sidewalks were taller individuals, dressed in white military uniforms, military caps and boots, along with gas masks that covered their faces and holding what appeared to be white assault rifles. The citizens all tended to avoid being around these military garbed individuals, knowing that they were the symbols of authority in this realm. Narrator: ''"Now, all of the suffering, chaos, and strife that plagued this world is gone, eradicated, and replaced with a world that remains perfectly in order. No longer do corrupt men stand in front of cameras, lying to the populace for the sake of credibility. No more do riots erupt from peaceful parts of the earth when selfish individuals do not have their way. No more do children sit on the sides of the street, begging for what should be given to them by right. Now, we all live in a world...where all men are equal."'' ---- This seemingly peaceful daily routine would find itself broken very quickly. Speeding along one of the highway bridges was a large, light blue van that flew down the road, passing cars at dangerously close distances, and even bumping some of them off of the road into other cars. Driving this van was a man appearing to be in his early to mid thirties, with dark skin and long dreadlocks. In the passenger's seat was another individual, and both of them appeared to be incredibly nervous. In the back of the van was a middle aged, balding man who had both hands on a large steel container of sorts, seemingly trying to keep it from falling over. "Dammit!" the driver yelled to the man in the back angrily, briefly glancing back at him before turning back to the road. "Man, I told you not to use that radio! I told you they would track us with that thing!!" "What was I supposed to do??!!" the man in the back yelled to the driver in an equally frustrated voice. "Those guards were all over us! I got nervous alright!?" "Damned fool!" the driver cursed, looking at all of the mirrors he could, seeing two white motorcycles with the masked troopers seen on the streets driving them in hot pursuit of the vehicle. "We're dead, so fucking dead man!!" the driver continued to say aloud in desperate fear and frustration, knowing that shaking these authorities would be no easy task. "What...were...you...doing!?" The passenger in the front growled, slamming his fist with his hand. "Alright, this is the plan. We move at maximum speed, and attempt to find a cave of some sort to deter them from finding us, got it? We can't let this become any bigger of a deal than it already is, otherwise we'll be caught by...him..." The man begun to be frightened, and visibly started to shake. The mention of a certain someone was enough to cause even a gruff man like this to become timid. "Don't even say it!" the driver said to him, shaking his head and exhaling deeply. "Find a cave somewheres...man where the hell are we gonna find a cave in a city!?" he argued, waving his hand up briefly to dismiss the man's plan, almost as if the sheer thought of that someone threw him off topic. The first Soldat trooper tailing the van at high speeds held no expressions due to his mask, nor did his pose indicate any form of stress or anticipation. Like a machine, he attended to his duty to it's upmost capacity. Placing his left hand up on the left of his gas mask like helmet, he spoke into what would be assumed to be an earpiece, speaking in a masked voice. "Control, this is Officer DC-1 of Unit 32. I have eyes on perpetrators from last nights break in at Stahl Industries. Officer DC-4 and I are both in pursuit. Please advise, over." "Copy that DC-1. Stand by." the feminine radio Control personel replied, before directing her words to the other Officer, known as Davis. "DC-4, what is your status, over?" "Currently engaged in the pursuit of the perpetrators. They appear to have carelessly left their radio on, should I intercept their signals?" DC-4 responded, while the radio Control personnel replied, "Do so, DC-4. Find out their affiliations and immediately report to me, DC-1, continue tailing the perpetrators while DC-4 intercepts the signals." "Understood, resuming pursuit." the Soldat officer replied as he pressured the gas on his bike, making it speed up to where he was getting closer to the van, but not enough to disrupt his comrade's movements. "Fuck it! We gotta get them off of us!" the driver said, pulling what appeared to be an MP-5 out of the large console of the van between him and the other passenger and tossed it to the back passenger. The latter of whom quickly cocked the hammer of the weapon and reached out of the side window to his left. "Motherfuckers~!!!!!!!!" the man yelled as he discharged countless bullets from the gun at the DC-1 officer. The officer didn't clumsily try to avoid the rounds as normal individuals should. Instead, he sheilded his face with his right arm, using his left to control his bike while the bullets all either slammed into the ground around him, or actually hit his arm and he demonstrated no signs of pain, almost as if some form of shielding in his body kept him safe. "Control, shots have been fired, the suspects are armed. Repeat, suspects are armed. Permission to engage." he spoke into his earpiece with no change in his tone, shrugging off the fact that he'd just been shot at. "Stand by, DC-1." ''the control operator spoke before turning her words to the Officer's partner. ''"DC-4, have you intercepted their radio feed yet?" "And I'm done. DC-1, they're headed towards the end of the bridge, and are attempting to evade us through the crowd. Do we have permission to intercept?" DC-4 asked, quickly wanting a response. "''Permission granted. DC-1 and DC-4, immediately apprehend the offenders and retrieve the item safely, '''without' any innocents harmed. Understood?''"